The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Thuja plant, botanically known as Thuja occidentalis, commonly known as American Arborvitae and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘SMTOBP’.
The new Thuja plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Grand Haven, Mich. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new Thuja plants with a compact plant habit.
The new Thuja plant originated from an open-pollination during the spring of 2003 of the Thuja occidentalis ‘Brandon’, not patented, as the female, or seed parent and an unknown selection of Thuja occidentalis as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Thuja plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor during the spring of 2006 as a plant within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled outdoor nursery environment in Grand Haven, Mich.
Asexual reproduction of the new Thuja plant by hardwood cuttings in a controlled environment in Grand Haven, Mich. since November, 2007, has shown that the unique features of this new Thuja plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.